Preparing for flow

flow is Curtin’s Enterprise Content Management initiative that will provide Curtin staff with an easier and better way of finding, using, sharing and keeping documents. Its implementation will be via a strategy of five streams: a common vocabulary, flow docs, flow web, flow plus and flow hub. Further information on the flow Strategy is available here.

University Information Management strongly recommends that each area of the organisation prepares for the implementation of flow. This will assist with a smoother rollout and make it easier for people to adjust to the new ways of finding, using, sharing and keeping documents.

Download the "Preparing for flow" documentation [PDF 100Kb]

Establish your local flow hub

The flow team will establish a university-level flow hub to provide:

Programs to promote Curtin’s information management principles, common vocabulary and the benefits of flow.
Induction programs to quickly orient new staff and associates in Curtin’s electronic information management environment.
Training courses and self-help materials on the efficient and effective use of flow, as well as on the key information management functions built into other related tools.
Support services to assist people with any problems or difficulties in the use of flow and the Curtin Common Vocabulary.

In addition to the university-level flow hub, the flow architecture includes the role of a local flow hub in each area. Local flow hubs will assist people in their area by providing them with local support for flow during its implementation and ongoing development. The head of your area is to designate a suitable position or team within your area to perform the role of local flow hub. Very small areas may partner with their neighbours or similar groups to share resources.

Local flow hub members will:

Receive specialised training as part of the rollout of flow systems.
Provide information management support and advice, with the assistance of the flow team, to people in their area.
Provide the flow team with information management related feedback.
Promote flow principles and the benefits of flow at the local area level.

Preparation actions:

1.1 Identify a suitable position or team within your area to perform the role of local flow hub.
1.2 Update relevant position descriptions to clearly allocate local flow hub responsibilities. E.g:

Act as the first point of contact for team members to provide practical advice, support, guidance and training for information management.

Collaborate with University Information Management to ensure the effective implementation and ongoing use of flow.

Promote flow principles to team members and encourage the effective use of flow systems.

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Promote the six principles of flow

flow’s vision that “Curtin will have an open, collaborative information culture which supports innovation and excellence in teaching and research”, is driven by the six following principles:

Consistency: A consistent approach to information management will be established across Curtin.
Collaboration: Curtin’s information management model will be based on consensus and negotiation.
Common Vocabulary: A common vocabulary will be used for describing information across Curtin.
Care: Information will be managed as a valuable organisational asset.
Openness: Access to information will be more open to assist people to better utilise Curtin’s high quality information.
Accessibility: People will access information through a secure, user friendly and personalised interface.

Preparation actions:

2.1 Promote the six principles of flow to staff in your area. E.g:

Select a principle to discuss at each staff meeting and relate it back to the key activities of your area.

Discuss work practices that could benefit from the application of these principles.

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Review the Curtin Common Vocabulary

Areas will need to use the Curtin Common Vocabulary (which is still under development) due for release in July 2008. This is a standard set of terminology for describing information consistently across Curtin. It will provide an effective and user-friendly method of grouping and organising information in a subject- and case-based structure.

Preparation actions:

3.1 Familiarise staff in your area with the Curtin Common Vocabulary and consider which parts closely relate to your area’s activities.

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Organise your shared electronic folders

You can start by organising your area’s information according to the top two levels of the Curtin Common Vocabulary. This can be arranged through your Curtin IT Services area by implementing the new folder structure in your shared drive. This will make the transition to flow significantly easier.

If your area currently uses the University Classification Scheme (UCS), a mapping will be provided to help migrate your existing folders over to the Curtin Common Vocabulary.

How do we migrate existing documents from our shared drive?

Scenario: Shared Drive is fairly well organised:
If your shared drive is well organised, e.g. around subjects or topics, it would be beneficial to move existing content across into the new folder structure. Contact your Curtin IT Services staff to have this organised. Ensure you make note of folder moves and advise staff in your area of the changes.

Scenario: Shared Drive is poorly organised:
If your shared drive is not well organised, it is advisable to make your current structure “read only”. New documents can be created within the new folder structure and existing documents can be moved over as required.

Preparation actions:

4.1  Contact your Curtin IT Services support team to set up your area’s shared drive according to the top two levels of the Curtin Common Vocabulary.
4.2  Examine your existing folders and identify if they are able to be migrated to the Curtin Common Vocabulary (feel free to consult the flow team for help with this if required).
4.3  If your existing folders can be easily migrated, re-organise them according to the Curtin Common Vocabulary and advise staff in your area of the changes.
4.4  If your existing folders can not be easily migrated, make them “read only” and move documents or folders over as required.

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Establish and use a shared mailbox

Contact your Curtin IT Services support team to have a shared mailbox set up for your area within Exchange. Once the shared mailbox is available, do the following:

Create a folder structure that mirrors those in your shared drive, which are organised according to the Curtin Common Vocabulary.
Establish who is responsible for the creation of new folders in the mailbox.
Advise people in your area to add the shared mailbox to their email client (e.g. Outlook).
Encourage people to drag and drop emails into the correct folders in the shared mailbox according to the following protocols:

If the email is sent within your area, it is the sende’s responsibility to store the email.

If the email is received from outside your area, it is the receiver’s responsibility to store the email. Once flow docs is implemented your emails will be captured in a very similar way.

Preparation actions:

5.1 Contact your Curtin IT Services support team to set up a shared mailbox in Exchange for your area that mirrors the Curtin Common Vocabulary folders in your shared drive.
5.2 Communicate with other staff in your area about how a shared mailbox should be used to store and share emails.

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Organise your paper files

flow docs will provide a central register for physical folders to assist with their tracking and storage. Where possible, existing registers should be re-organised according to the Curtin Common Vocabulary.
If your area has a large backlog of inactive paper files, you should contact University Information Management staff on 9266 4168, who can provide your area with the tools and advice you need to process these records for transfer to suitable storage or authorised secure destruction.

Preparation actions:

6.1 Re-organise existing registers of paper files according to the Curtin Common Vocabulary.
6.2 Contact University Information Management to access tools and advice to process any backlogs of inactive paper files in your area.

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Review and update your websites

To prepare for flow web you will need to:

Ensure your website is up to date and current to make migration to flow web smoother.
Review the structure of your website to ensure it’s easy for visitors to understand and navigate.
Consider implementing the Curtin ColdFusion Framework for your website as this will make migrating your website to flow web easier.

For assistance with web publishing standards contact the Digital Media Unit. For assistance with reviewing your website’s metadata contact the flow team.

If you don’t want to migrate website data that is not current, it can be archived by taking a snapshot before removing it from view. Snapshots can be made by placing a request with your Curtin IT Support team to make a copy of your website. This copy will show how the site looked before any changes were made and can be saved into the flow repository.

Preparation actions:

7.1 Examine the structure of your website and make sure its content is up to date.

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Need assistance?

The flow team have developed information sessions that are now available for all interested staff to attend with registration available via the Employee Kiosk. The sessions are designed to equip staff in preparing their areas for the implementation of flow.

We are happy to provide you with advice and assistance to help you and your team prepare for the implementation of flow.

If you need assistance, contact the flow team.

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